Shal at Mas Camp Tonight

In an attempt to attract more patrons to their non-band nights, Bacchanal Jamaica will be hosting Shal Marshall tonight at Mas Camp. I am hoping that Shal will not have to try too hard to gain the audience's attention. It is difficult to be the sole performer for the night especially with backing tracks. Shal has about four popular songs that I believe he will perform tonight: Love Somebody, Gyal Farm, Bum Bum Ville and Police (note that all of these are collaborations). I know that Shal is one of those DJs who wants to prove that he can successfully get into the soca game, a trend started by Chinese Laundry. Along with Slaughter and Jason Williams, these DJs are giving the veteran soca artises serious competition. Even at the Soca Monarch, JW and Blaze was able to capture the title over Faye Ann Lyons, and Shal and Screws had one of the best stage presentations which gave them fourth place.

The DJs also have the advantage of knowing what type of songs are appealing to their already familar audience. They also control the medium that get those songs to their audiences so they can't complain that the radio stations aren't playing their songs which are the constant cries of new soca artistes.

Btw, where's Screws???? Shal could have brought him too!

Bazodee 2010

One of my favorite Jamaican Carnival fetes is Bazodee. This all inlcusive event will be held on Saturday April 10, 2010 in Cherry Gardens...so you know it's a big shot fete with big shot money. There's no advertised outlet to purchase tickets but a reservation system through email. You will later collect the tickets in a sealed envelope after they've contact you...yes people this is an "exclusive" event!

The fete is also big with the trinis because you are guaranteed to get a taste of all your favourite trini dishes: doubles, roti, aloo pie, pholourie and bake and saltfish...I tell you I would have made my poor mother ashamed with my likrishness last year and after all that I still had the haagen daz ice cream (a lot of people already know how I feel about this marvelous delicacy) and chased it with green apple vodka and apple juice....Ah was nice with serious heartburn.

So peeps reserve your tickets as soon as possible and if you like me,walk with your zantac or andrews....

Palancing on de Road 2010

I think that UWI Mona's Campus Carnival 2010 was one of the best I've experienced so far. The Trinbagonians on campus ensured that they would leave their mark on the ring road this year. They palanced and wined until the music was turned off.

Today, many students are not aware that this was one of the first carnival events in Jamaica and was pioneered by the Eastern Caribbean and Trinbagonian students. The Carnival then became the responsibility if the Student's Guild and was led by the various residential halls. Three years ago, I was fortunate to be a part of the Trinidad and Tobago Students Association who wanted to bring the island feel back to the event; of course this was met with resistance since campus carnival is a "hall thing". We still pursued and we have now made our third presence on the ring road. The TTSA band has been a tshirt band since its inception simply because it's cheaper and easier to coordinate, and we do those tshirts so well!

So big up all the Trinbagonians, Jamaicans, Bajans, Bahamians, Belizeans, Vincys, Caymanians and everyone else who made Saturday a great success for the Palancing on de Road Tshirt band. And we know that half the band was drunk cause the drinks were flowing...too many people were drinking "anything"! For one day, we didn't care about the Air Jamaica deal, flying fish, who preventing patties from coming in; who selling too much Trini products in their grocery etc...it was just pure Palance....so look out for us next year for sure!

This Weekend in Kingston....

The Carnival vibes are picking up here in Kingston from today so I hope you're ready. It all begins with Bajan Soca Queen Alison Hind's performance at mas camp tonight. If it's one person that JA Carnival peeps love is Ms. Hinds so expect an excited and energetic crowd. You also know that she's going to perform one of the unofficial road march songs here, Roll it Gyal. Now the first time I heard this song, many years ago, I loved it because it adequately represented Caribbean women"s response to the liberation that soca music provides. Just look at the faces of women when this song is played. They are empowered, they want to wine and they want to dictate who they want to wine with: by themselves, with a man, with men or with women. Despite all these powers of the song, I've heard it too many times in this country. To me it's another song to lock away in the soca vault....but I still love you Alison!

Later on that night, students at the Mona campus will be chipping in Jóuvert at the Student"s union. There will be paint, drinks and soca music. The Head Bad Crew led by trinis have organized their Jóuvert band with Tshirt and drinks. This will lead into the annual Campus Carnival that goes around the ring road. The tradition of the Ring Road Carnival was pioneered by the Eastern Caribbean and Trinbagonian students in the 1980s. It emerged from a need to expose the campus to their Carnival culture as well as to satisfy the Carnival tabanca that many of them felt since they were not in their homeland for Carnival. The Trinidad and Tobago Students Assocation at the Mona campus is attempting to bring back this feel to the campus carnival with their Palancing on de Road tshirt band. Along with the Trinbagonian and Bajans from the Utech campus, TTSA is seeking to bring all islands together to jump, wave, wine, grind, get on bad, wuk up, push back, roll it and of course Palance. So look for us on the ring road tomorrow enjoying ourselves and leaving all thoughts about school, deadlines, assignments, exams etc. behind....

Carnival Boots

In the last few years, it's clear that boots are the dominant foot wear for Trinidad Carnival. Even this year I saw very few masqueraders in sneakers. Yes people, boots are in and sneakers are slowly fading out. However, I am not condemning any one who chooses to wear their sneakers because they have placed comfort over fashion. I've worn boots for the last two years and they really add that extra sexiness to your costume; boots in general are always sexy! I even took pics of some of my favourite boots this year in Spice.

I saw very few people in boots last year for Bacchanal Jamaica Carnival but I suspect that the trend will catch on this year. If you do choose boots, ensure that it's flat although some carnival divas take the chance with wedge or heel boots...(big respect to those ladies!). Your selection should have a round front which ensures adequate wiggle room. Most of all, they must be comfortable. You can always insert a Dr. Scholls insole for that extra cushioning. If you are using an insole, then you should purchase the boots a half size or a size larger.

Most importantly don't be afraid to glamourize your boots: add some more feathers, gems, glitter, braid or even spray them different colours....

Kees, the Remedy!

Kees I would like to thank you and your band for a great performance on Friday night. I arrived at mas camp at 11:45pm and made my way to the VIP section which is really just a closer section to the stage and does not offer a VIP experience. For JA$2500, I would have liked a greater selection of drinks and something to eat. At this time, DJ Dawg-e-Slaughter was on the stage hyping up the crowd and giving a brief tutorial in Palancing…I must say that Palance is catching on in Jamaica…slowly but surely. At 11:56pm the band made their way to stage with Heaven and Right Dey, followed by some of Machel Montano’s songs, Palance, Police, Party Hard and One Island. He performanced some of his own songs Till Morning, Thunder and my favorite Naina which really had the crowd moving. The crowd also got a taste of some ole time calypsoes which were appreciated. I agreed with their selections of songs but I would have liked to hear more of Kees’ songs (this could just be my bias).

Now is either Kees real brave or he really wants to connect with his audience beccause my boy jump off the stage and ventured into the VIP and the General sections. Honestly, I thought he would have been accosted or even kidnapped by some red man-rasta man-winer boy-loving chick in the crowd but he emerged safely though somewhat shaken and returned to the stage. It took Kees exactly 26 minutes to remove his shirt. This could be due to me calling him out on it. Yes Kees, if you ever read this, it was ME with the trini flag up front who asked you to remove the shirt. People this is a fact and not my imagination, but he looked directly me and said…yes baby, ah coming to that just now…I think that incident more than qualifies me for the shirt-take-off-person position in the band!
A Jamaican crowd is a tough soca crowd if you are not Destra, Machel, Alison Hinds and sad to say, Iwer George. Kees is not new to Jamaica because of his days with Imij and he performed here in 2008, yet he had to cover other people’s songs in his set, particularly the songs that are gaining popularity here which is fair, but if the DJs vary and update their play lists, artistes like Kees can include more of their own songs in his performances in Jamaica. It’s fair to say then that the crowd enjoyed Kes the Band which is evident by the 2 encores or it could be that people couldn’t believe that paid either JA$1200 or JA$2500 for only 45 minutes of performance time. I hope Bacchanal Jamaica is taking note of this for future band nights.

Big up to the big Trini flag crew in General and the small flag crew in VIP, allyuh real represent!

Spice Palance on Tuesday

I woke up at 6:20am on Tuesday so you know your girl did not plan on meeting Spice for the designated 6:30am on Charlotte Street. I don't know why I didn't remember that this corset takes forever to lace up, so I was a little late. Eventually I left Chaguanas at 7:50am. I met my make up artiste, Makeda at Methuen Street, near Wrightson Rd for my appointment. As I came out of the car the long gold chain on the belt got caught in my stockings and cut my inner thigh. Imagine the stockings ripped and I didn't even have on my make up yet! Note to Spice: Do not include pieces that will rip stockings! Anyway, it was a good thing I had on 2 pairs of stockings so I removed one and used clear nail polish to fix the snag in the second one. So I got the make up done, which I loved! Another successful year with Makeda from Shades of Sugar...

I then met the band near Memorial Park on Charlotte Street at 10:00 am; I couldn't believe they had not even crossed the stage at this point. I had already made up my mind to miss the Savannah stage since I would have been late, so I was glad that I would be able to cross. Now at this point, it's really hot and not a drinks truck in sight and we clearly weren't going anywhere anytime soon. I then succumbed and bought one of the $12 (yes, $12) bottle waters. About an hour later, we crossed the stage to Palance with Thailand crossing second to last; no scene, we real Palance on that stage (although no one saw me on TV!) and went on to the lunch stop.

Sad to say the rest stop situation did not improve on Tuesday. This time, I had the spaghetti and meatballs with a heavy dose of dust. To quote the security guard from the previos day, just geh meh some pelau. I don't know what people have against pelau, once the pelau taste good, I happy; I don't need anything fancier than that. So I touched up the make up and did not use the portable toilets, since again, there was no toilet paper and soap to wash your hands. Then we were on our way to Ariapita Ave.

Ariapita was the worse part of the route; it seemed like we were standing there for hours in the heat. I made my way several times to the cool down bus and was turned away since the both buses were filled. I finally got a seat and questioned why this was called a "cool down" bus; since the bus was more like a sweat bus; no AC in the bus. But, I really needed to sit for a while and recharge. I must mention the girl who was a part of the Spice Committee who came in the bus and smoked her cigarette; did I mention the bus was hot? She's lucky that the tobacco law came into effect on Ash Wednesday...

After a brief nap on the sweat bus, I was ready for the Adam Smith stage. We Palanced some more and by this time, we had 2 frontline girls. out of about eight. I think the Thailand headpiece was too big and uncomfortable for the frontliners. I still however, suffered from Frontline envy. Last year as a frontliner, I posed for dozens of photographs and blushed at the endless compliments. So next year for sure I will be reclaiming my frontline status; frontliners have more fun...talk done!

After clearing Ariapita ave, we made our way to the downtown stage which went at a good pace. By this time, I hungry since I only took a few bites out of the lunch. I saw some people with aloo pies and quickly got excited because the aloo pies sell off last year. But wait...where did the aloo pies come from? I never saw anyone distributing the pies but people were eating pies...so I kept asking persons where they got the pies, to which I got the response, the man just pass. I couldn't understand how I kept missing these just pass aloo pies so again I succumbed and purchased a hot dog from one of the vendors by Central bank. Lo and behold, 45 minutes later, I see the man with aloo pies while waiting to cross the downtown stage...I grabbed that aloo pie so fast and crossed the stage holding on to half of the pie!

Well downtown was my last palance and I headed back up to Chaguanas about 6:45pm. I wasn't that tired but my feet hurt like a bitch....I couldn't wait to get my feet in a foot bath with hot water and epsom salts.

I did have a great time in Spice and I did not have a bad experience like so many other masqueraders. My costume registration and collection was a breeze. I did not experience any bad attitudes from any of the Spice Management team. I did not mind being in the the back of the band since music at the back was really vibesy and we had a main bar that was always stocked so that was a nice surprise. For the most part I loved my costume but the lack of gems on the corset was very disappointing. Initially I was told by Spice that frontliners did not have the corset option, which I found unfair but there were a couple frontliners with corsets so why didn't I get that option? I already addressed the negatives such as the food, rest stop and the cool down bus. These little luxuries are what keep people going back to bands like Tribe where masqueraders can see what they are paying for. These are the real missing ingredients that make the experience worth it. I think my main issue was that last year I really enjoyed myself because the band had a more intimate feeling due to the small numbers. Spice is definitely not ready to operate as a large band...keep it small or medium and give your masqueraders the best service and costume quality.

Will I be in Spice next year? I'm willing to give them another chance once I could get a frontline costume that's reasonable, pretty and comes with a corset.....